The Orphanage, Wilpshire, Blackburn

The Orphanage was founded by James Dixon (1855-1936), originally from Scotland, who was known as "The Blackburn Samaritan". He had also helped to found the Ragged School. In 1886 he started to raise funds to build an Orphanage. On the 23rd July 1891 the opening ceremony took place, with several hundred townsfolk in attendance. Two months previously, James Dixon had been appointed as the first Superintendent, a post he was to hold until 1933.

Lawrence Cotton, Mayor of Blackburn was a patron of Wilpshire Orpanage. The township is governed by a parish council and was included in the district chapelry of St. Peter, Sales- bury, in 1872 the village is distant about half a mile from the church. The Blackburn Orphanage, erected in 1891 and enlarged in 1896, now accommodates sixty-five children. The Orphanage consisted of 2 very large Victorian buildings, the first built in 1891, the second in 1904, both specifically to be used as an Orphanage by James Dixon whose birthday was always celebrated on the 11th of December, the day after my birthday. There were about 75 boys in one building and 60 girls in the other. The boys building has now been demolished, but the girls building is still used by Blackburn Care So- ciety for disadvantaged children. There were 5 or 6 members of staff to look after the boys, of which one was the cook. The daily routine was to be woken at 6.30 am (7am at weekends) and after dressing and making the bed, to complete one's allocated task. This could take anything from 15 minutes to an hour. One of my morning tasks was to peel the potatoes, not by hand but in a machine. The machine was kept in a small wet room. One day the machine wouldn't start, so I took off the top of the motor and looked at the connections, 2 wires had become disconnected, there was no clamp holding the electric cable to the plug and it must have got pulled at some time. However, I reconnected the wires to the connection that was nearest to each of them, plugged in and nothing happened. Funny I thought, so I gave the motor a knock with my hand in case it was stuck. When I recovered from hitting the wall at the other side of the room, I realised that electricity was quite dangerous stuff. I had leather shoes on with metal studs in on a wet stone floor. I connected the wires correctly and all was well. Another of the jobs that I had that sticks in my mind was having to scrub the staff corridor each morning, this was the part of the top floor where the staff had individual bedrooms. When I say scrub, this was with a bucket of hot water a scrubbing brush and a block of carbolic soap, on hands and knees. The thing that makes it quite memorable for me was, one member of staff always seemed to want to go to his room just as I was getting to the end of this 25ft long corridor, and he always tripped over the bucket spilling the water. Mr Kurnock was the only member of staff I remember being disliked, some time later after he had left (may- be dismissed) we found out he had come to the Orphanage from a Borstal. After one's work was finished, it was to the 'Boot Room' to clean shoes ready for school. Washing oneself stripped to the waist came next, usually done in a hurry so as to be first in the queue for breakfast. However having washed, we had to locate a member of the staff to be 'passed' before getting dressed again. This consisted of standing in front of the staff member with arms outstretched in front and rotating them first one way then the other, then turning ones head from side to side for inspection, followed by kicking ones legs out in front of you and then behind you (we wore short trousers then). This of course was quite inconclusive as to whether you had washed or not and the more particular members of staff just placed their hand round the back of your neck to see if it was smooth or had been freshly washed.

The kitchen had a rota, 2 of the over 10 year olds were allocated to kitchen duties and 2 to Dining Room Duties. First thing in the morning the kitchen duty was to cut the bread, spread on the margarine, get out the crockery etc. needed, and pass them through the hatch to the boys on Dining room duty. The hand bell would be rung to call everyone to breakfast. There were 3 large tables in the dining room, each could seat up to 20 children around them, they were scrubbed clean each day. The breakfast things were laid out, mug, plate knife and spoon in each place. Cornflakes (porridge in winter) bread and jam, tea and sometimes coffee at weekends, was our breakfast. After meals, the kitchen duty was to wash and dry everything used for that meal, this included all the cooking utensils as well. Salesbury School was about a mile and a half away and after breakfast we lined up and set off for school, usually the eldest boy was in charge of the column as it wound it's way down Somerset Avenue to Salesbury. I don't remember much about Salesbury School but on one occasion one of the older boys who was 'a big lad' about to be caned by Mr. Croft 'Beaky' the Headmaster, snatched the cane out of his hand and chased him round the school. On another occasion an elderly spinster Miss Forest, who was the maths teacher among other things, accused me of cheating in a maths test. Even though I could explain exactly how I got the answer to the problem, albeit an unusual way, I could not convince her she was wrong. I showed her though later, as I was only one of three children of my year, and the only orphanage boy to pass the 11-plus exam to go to a Grammar School. It didn't take me long to settle down at the Orphanage and within a couple of weeks it was Christmas. It was always traditional that the Mayor of Blackburn turned up on Christmas Day. The local poultry farmer supplied the Turkeys, enormous they were, one for the girls and one for the boys, and the Blackburn Branch of the Ro- tary club supplied the presents and Father Christmas. All the children would write letters to Father Christmas at the beginning of December, sometimes for very expensive gifts which of course they had no hope of get- ting. Father Christmas came into the dormitories about 9pm on Christmas Eve to distribute the toys. That first year I had arrived too late to send a letter, I really would have liked to know who decided that a nine year old boy should get building blocks for Christmas. A few years later when I was into ballroom dancing, my letter requested a pair of dancing shoes. I actually received a pair of plimsolls. On Sunday Mornings we would go alternately to a service in Salesbury, Church of England, and the Method- ist Church in Wilpshire. Sometimes on a Sunday afternoon, Albert Marsh, a friend of Mr. Street would visit him for the day, he would always offer to pay for 2 ounce of sweets of our choice for each of us boys and girls, normally we would have to pay for them out of our pocket money which was sixpence a week. Sunday Evenings we had a service in the 'School Room' at the Orphanage, led by Mr. Street. Once a month on a Sat- urday evening we had a ballroom dancing session in the 'School Room' for the older boys and girls, when I say older, this was probably around 12yrs, but I can't remember exactly. This was the only time we were per- mitted to mix with the girls. Sometimes a gentleman known as Brother Worthington would visit, he was a member of the Independent Order of Rechabites (someone who abstains from alcohol). He would give us a lecture on the dangers of drinking. Of course, boys will be boys and there was a fair bit of mischief went on. Scrumping at harvest time, that was stealing apples from some of the local big houses, nothing of any deliberate intention to damage things. We would play bows and arrows with home made kit. I can remember being in a group of boys having punish- ment for something or other. We were summoned to the School Room and made to walk round in a circle, with Mr. Street in the middle with a 'pump' as we called them in his hand, (plimsoll) nowadays called trainers. As we went past him whack. I think it was because we had been playing in the road outside, this was a bus route, and out of bounds, after all we did have at least a couple of acres to play in. The Orphanage was well known in Blackburn and the surrounding area, and from time to time the local peo- ple would send their unwanted toys and things to us. In those days wind up cars, engines and train sets were the most interesting of these playthings. It was my interest too, but I liked to take them to pieces. I kept a bag full of cogs, gears and other bits and pieces from broken toys. Consequently, when a toy wouldn't work any more, the boys would bring them to me for mending, not that I was able to fix all of them. We had a three quarter sized football pitch at the back of the Orphanage, well actually it was just a field with goal posts at either end. It sloped from one side to the other. We built a huge bonfire on the centre spot each November 5th, so as I say it was just a field. However, there were lots of boy's clubs football teams around Blackburn and we could just about manage to find eleven boys interested in playing of the right age group. So we had quite a lot of games on Saturdays. I can't ever remember winning a game, but I do remember being beaten 29-0 once. In Summer we played cricket on the field but only between ourselves, although our favour- ite was playing cricket with the wickets chalked on the building wall and a tennis ball, this hurt less. Behind the girls building there was a kitchen garden where we practiced growing lettuce, cabbage, carrots, potatoes and things, not very successful but it kept us busy when not at school. We also had a wire enclosure with a hen house where we kept chickens for their eggs. There weren't enough of them to supply all the chil- dren with one each but they helped in other ways in the kitchen. Every year around October, we would be taken to Blackpool Illuminations, a couple of charabancs would take us there and cruise slowly along the front, the 'Golden Mile'. My grandfather, Benjamin Hagan, who was at the Orphanage from 25 January 1900 took me to the illuminations and he loved Blackpool. On the way home we would stop at a watering hole, and there we would be met by someone who handed out a stick of Blackpool rock to each of us. We would also be invited to theatres in Blackburn to see pantomimes and other entertainments. Foster Yates & Thom a large local factory invited us each year to a Christmas party.